Solomon Islands, 1998

The word

“globalization” did not appear in dictionaries of the

English language 30 years ago. Globalization is now a

reality, but multitudes do not benefit. To assist those

peoples suffering its negative consequences, the United

Nations requires skilled and innovative leadership. The

General Assembly is fortunate that Mr. Opertti has been

elected to lead it at its fifty-third session. His service to

his country and intergovernmental organizations at the

highest levels and his experience as a teacher, scholar and

practitioner of international law, with extensive work in

economic development and trade, as well as crime

prevention and the protection of children, demonstrate the

understanding and patience required here.

My delegation applauds the achievements of

Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko, President of the General

Assembly at its fifty-second session who time and again

demonstrated the dexterity and humour necessary for

advancing the delicate process of United Nations reform,

which Solomon Islands wholeheartedly supports. In the

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who continues to nurture

that process, this Organization has found one of the great

men of our time. We are honoured by his presence.

Having often spoken strongly in favour of gender

equality, my delegation rejoiced in the election of

Ms. Louise Frechette as the first Deputy Secretary-

General. She and the Secretary-General admirably

represent the indispensable Secretariat.

On the eve of the new millennium, many developing

countries continue to experience difficult economic,

environmental and social problems. The lack of capital

resources, crushing debt, external economic shocks and the

fall in development assistance retard the growth of the

economies of many least developed countries. The small

island developing States continue to experience growth in

drug and other transborder crimes. Moreover, our people

face the ever present threat of natural disaster, such as the

devastating tsunami that recently struck Papua New Guinea,

our nearby neighbour.

We are a village people feeling the impact of

globalization. The vulnerability of small island developing

States to external economic shock is indeed real. Our tiny

economy means a narrow human and non-human resources

base and a limited domestic market. We are dangerously

exposed to external economic developments in trade, capital

flows and technology. Limited in our capacity to stabilize

our domestic economy, we are especially sensitive to and

dependent on the international situation. Our inability to

effectively deal with the impacts of the Asian financial

crisis demonstrates our vulnerability. The drop in my

country’s export revenue further undermines our difficult

financial and economic situation. Well-designed and

carefully monitored international standards and codes of

conduct for capital flows and private financial management

are essential. Without such regulatory measures, the

prospects that the least developed countries will benefit

from globalization and trade liberalization remain bleak. We

face even further marginalization.

The Alliance for Change Government of Solomon

Islands is well aware that whether we and other least

developed countries succeed in effectively using the

opportunities and mitigating the risks offered by the new

world trading system depends largely on our success in

making major macroeconomic policy reforms and

overcoming deficiencies. To stimulate private sector

involvement and the active participation of indigenous

Solomon Islanders, the Government has launched a reform

programme incorporating sound banking and financial

practices conducive to economic growth and stability. The

public sector is being restructured to create more efficient,

responsive and accountable governmental administration.

We cannot succeed, however, without significant

bilateral and multilateral assistance. The experience of other

economies that have undertaken similar programmes shows

that the reforms can be accelerated by assured markets for

traditional products as well as access to new markets and

capital. Moreover, multilateral agencies such as the United

Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and

the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) can

assist significantly in enhancing competitiveness and

capacity-building.

Communications and information technology are, of

course, essential for economic revitalization, especially so

for Solomon Islands and other small island developing

States remote from major markets and financial centres.

My Government is committed to the development of

efficient and cost-effective telecommunication networks

as a catalyst for economic and social progress. We are

also supporting long-distance education by radio and

campaigns to reduce and eliminate illiteracy.

Sustainable development and the scientific

management of our forest and marine resources remain

high priority matters for my Government. The 922 islands

and atolls of the Solomons stretch over 1.35 million

square kilometres of ocean. Fisheries are essential for our

economy. Last April, Parliament enacted legislation to

control the exploitation of our fish resources and to

maximize the benefits for our people. Protecting the

fragile marine ecosystem from pollution is a major

concern. With the assistance of the UNDP, a study will

soon be undertaken to assess the potential danger to the

marine environment posed by the large quantity of

submerged ordnance from the Second World War.

Projects to encourage ecotourism as well as the

processing of forest products within the Solomon Islands

are being considered.

The special session of the General Assembly next

year to review the overall implementation of the Barbados

Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of

Small Island Developing States promises to be an

important occasion to assess the progress made in the last

five years. Solomon Islands will participate actively in the

preparatory work and in the seventh session of the

Commission on Sustainable Development and the donors

conference on small island developing States.

Natural disaster remains the greatest environmental

threat to the peoples of many small island nations. We

face such calamities as tidal waves and volcanic

eruptions, hurricanes, droughts and floods and rise of the

sea level from climate warming. During the past year,

shortages of water and food caused by El Niño severely

affected Solomon Islands and several other countries in

the region, especially where cyclones had struck earlier.

Intensified international cooperation in early warning

systems, disaster mitigation and management strategies

are needed. We strongly support the renewal of the

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United Nations International Decade for Disaster Reduction

and related initiatives.

Climate change remains an issue demanding urgent

and concrete global collective attention. The Kyoto

Protocol, which Solomon Islands signed a few days ago, is

a positive step within the climate protection process, but it

must be understood to be only one of several. Crucial

actions, besides the early ratification of the Protocol by all

parties, include the strengthening of emission reduction

targets and commitment to agreed time frames by

industrialized countries and the development and transfer of

appropriate, affordable and environmentally sound

technologies. International commitments to energy

efficiency and the development of renewable energy

sources remain key objectives. For small island developing

States to meet their obligations, adequate resources must be

generated through the mechanisms provided by the Protocol

and the Global Environment Facility. These are priority

issues for the fourth session of the Conference of the

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change, meeting in Buenos Aires next month.

Other potential disasters concern us as well. The

proliferation of nuclear weapons is especially troubling to

my Government. Solomon Islands is committed to the

elimination of these weapons and is proud of the part it

took at the International Court of Justice on the issue of

nuclear weapons. These instruments of terror are creating

insecurity in our region. We are also committed to the

elimination of biological and chemical weapons. The

coming entry into force next March of the Ottawa

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,

Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on

Their Destruction is splendid news indeed, and we thank

Austria, Canada, Norway and South Africa for their

extraordinary efforts.

In our peaceful islands, the noise of any conflict

resounds loudly and threateningly. We are indeed pleased

by the Bougainville peace agreement, which New Zealand

skilfully helped to negotiate with the important assistance

of Australia, Fiji and Vanuatu. Crucial for the success of

this effort was the willingness of the Government of Papua

New Guinea and the other parties to work in good faith.

We also thank France for agreeing to a timetable for the

independence of New Caledonia.

The Alliance for Change Government strongly

condemns international terrorism in any form or

manifestation. We deplore in the strongest terms what

happened in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. Solomon Islands

supports the call by previous speakers for the international

community, in particular the United Nations, to take a

leading role in combating terrorism. At the same time, we

recognize the need to understand the conditions in which

terrorism is rooted and to change them. The desperate

acts of men and women have desperate causes.

International partnership is also required in fighting

the world’s illicit drug trade. The declaration adopted at

the twentieth special session of the General Assembly

calls for concrete efforts. My Government is taking the

necessary steps at the national level, but the enhancement

of our interdiction capabilities and the encouragement of

alternative economic activities require practical

international assistance.

The Solomon Islands delegation participated in the

preparation of the Statute of the International Criminal

Court, and we applaud its adoption in Rome. The

challenge before us now is to ensure its effective

implementation.

Half a century after the adoption of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, the progress achieved,

although significant, is far from satisfactory for hundreds

of millions of people. Many human rights do not exist,

except on paper, for the over one billion persons who live

in abject poverty. My Government is committed to

upholding our people’s fundamental rights, as guaranteed

by the Solomon Islands Constitution. We strive to

maintain human dignity. Although resource constraints

hinder our ability to fulfil the reporting obligations of the

international instruments to which we are a party, we will

not fail to meet our human rights obligations. Nor will we

be silent when the rights of others are denied.

We call once again for the representation and

participation of the Republic of China on Taiwan in the

United Nations and its agencies. When the General

Assembly refuses to place this matter on its agenda, it

denies to the nearly 22 million people of Taiwan their

rights under the Charter of this Organization. It rejects the

opportunity to foster peace and security in the Taiwan

Strait through dialogue here at the United Nations. It turns

its back on preventive diplomacy. Surely the General

Assembly is better than this. The people of this politically

stable, economically strong and technologically advanced

democracy have amply demonstrated how much they have

to offer their region and the world. With the new

millennium nearly upon us, it is time to discard old

patterns of thought if the Chinese motherland is to reunite

peacefully. My Government will continue to appeal to the

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United Nations to seriously consider and recognize the

legitimate right of the people of the Republic of China on

Taiwan to have a voice in this international arena.

During the “reform Assembly”, Solomon Islands

supported the proposals of the Secretary-General. My

delegation actively participated in the Open-ended Working

Group on the Security Council. Reform of the Council

should move boldly toward greater democracy and

transparency. Expansion of its membership must reflect

equitable geographical representation, and close thought

needs to be given to the composition of the regional groups.

If the veto cannot be decently buried, it should be restricted

to Chapter VII questions.

The Secretary-General’s proposal for a Millennium

Assembly in September 2000 to identify priorities for

United Nation action is refreshing. Critical for the success

of the Assembly will be the two years of international

dialogue, involving the widest possible spectrum of

participants, leading up to it. The dialogues must truly be

dialogues and not long series of monologues in which

people talk past one another. A leading candidate for one

of the priorities to be adopted by the Millennium Assembly

is debt forgiveness for the heavily indebted poor countries.

Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom are to be

commended for their recent debt-forgiving actions. We also

appreciate the Nordic countries who have fulfilled their

targets and commitments for official development

assistance.

Solomon Islands celebrated the twentieth anniversary

of its independence last July. The past two decades have

been difficult but peaceful. My Government wishes to

acknowledge the contribution of the international

community, especially our development partners, including

the non-governmental organizations. We especially thank

our citizens for their patience and support towards our

development endeavours. We are committed to

strengthening these partnerships. We must work together to

meet the challenges of the next millennium successfully.